Dr. George Koob, head of the NIH's National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, said he expected the device to be a valuable resource for alcohol research community.

"It can help doctors accurately measure a patient's drinking history, and not just depend on the most recent tests," Koob said. "This can help a lot with the treatment."

Medical, law enforcement and transportation officials have long sought better technology for detection of blood alcohol levels. Traditional portable breath alcohol testers are unwieldy and can cost over $1,000, and they don't provide ongoing monitoring of alcohol levels.

"The blood alcohol monitoring devices used in legal and medical circles are big and bulky, like a ball and chain for the ones using it," said Keith Nothacker, president of BACtrack. "We wanted to make something people would want to wear."

The device in its current form will not, however, be a substitute for breathalysers or blood tests used by law enforcement, because it does not provide real-time blood-alcohol levels.

Nothacker said it takes approximately 45 minutes for ethanol to be transmitted through the skin, and that the device is designed to provide a recent history of alcohol use.

BACtrack has been experimenting with consumer-centric alcohol testing for several years. In 2013, it introduced the BACtrack Mobile Breathalyzer, which syncs with a smartphone to track blood alcohol content.

The company beat seven other contenders to win the NIH competition. Milo, a Santa Barbara based technology startup, won the $100,000 second-place prize for its design of a wearable alcohol content tracker that also uses a skin sensor and communicates with a smartphone using wireless technology.

The new device has not yet been submitted to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for marketing approval.

In January, American researchers showed off a sensor band designed to pick up some key chemicals and metabolites present in human sweat and indicate whether the person is suffering from health issues such as dehydration, fatigue or high body temperature.